Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel ItineraryBureau of Reclamation Historic Dams and Water ProjectsManaging Water in the West

Learn More

The Learn More page provides additional information relating to a wide range of topics associated with the dams and water projects featured in the itinerary. The resources are organized by state as they appear in the List of Sites. Bureau of Reclamation sites are listed first, followed by recreation information sites and finally local and state tourism sites.

American Scenic Byways This website, maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, includes information on state and nationally designated byway routes throughout America based on their archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.

DamTour is a loose organization of motorcyclists who set up an annual challenge for themselves of riding to different dams throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itineraries Other travel itineraries in the National Park Service series include many historic destinations to visit online and in person. Each itinerary spotlights a different geographic region or theme.

Heritage Documentation Programs in the American Memory: Built in America Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service, administers HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey), the Federal Government’s oldest operating preservation program, and companion programs, HAER (Historic American Engineering Record), HALS (Historic American Landscapes Survey), and CRGIS (Cultural Resources Geographic Information Systems). Drawings, maps, photographs, and historical reports produced through the programs and archived at the Library of Congress constitute the nation’s largest collection of historical architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation.

National Heritage Areas Places designated by the United States Congress where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally-distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography. These areas tell nationally important stories about our nation and are representative of the national experience through both the physical features that remain and the traditions that have evolved within them.

Historic Hotels of America A feature of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Traveler program that provides information on historic hotels and package tours in the vicinity of sites included in this itinerary.

National Historic Landmarks National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value in interpreting the heritage of the United States. Today, fewer than 2,500 historic places bear this national distinction.

National Park Service The main National Park Service website is the gateway to national parks, information on preserving America’s history and culture in parks and communities, and a vast amount of other useful information on National Park Service programs, history and culture, nature and science, education, and other topics.

National Park Service Elwha River Restoration Project The Elwha is the
largest watershed in Olympic National Park. The National Park Service is managing the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams to reopen more than 70 miles of pristine spawning and rearing habitat in the Elwha River and its tributaries. For information on this project, visit the National Park Service Olympic National Park Elwha River Restoration Project website, which includes a link to the Elwha River Restoration Webcams where viewers can see the progress being made on dam removal.

National Park Service Office of Sustainable Tourism National Parks have been interwoven with tourism from their earliest days. This website highlights the ways in which the National Park Service promotes and supports sustainable, responsible, informed and managed visitor use through cooperation and coordination with the tourism industry.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official inventory of historic places worthy of preservation. Districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture are included in the National Register, which is expanded and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The National Register website is the gateway to information on authentic registered historic places, the benefits of recognition, and how to become involved in identifying, nominating to the National Register, and protecting these irreplaceable reminders of our heritage.

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a United States Congress-chartered non-profit group that preserves historic places, publishes information about preservation, and operates preservation initiatives. Learn about the programs and membership in the oldest national nonprofit preservation organization.

Teaching with Historic Places This website, maintained by the National Park Service, offers online classroom-ready place-based lesson plans created by historians and educators to help teachers use historic places in the classroom. Each lesson is linked to national standards for history and the social studies.

Billington, David P., Donald C. Jackson and Martin V. Melosi, The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2005).

Billington, David P., and Donald C. Jackson, Big Dams of the New Deal Era: A Confluence of Engineering and Politics (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006).

Chisholm, Graham and Larry A. Neel. Birds of the Lahontan Valley: A Guide to Nevada’s Wetland Oasis. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002.

Christensen, Rick and Brent Mefford, “A Struggle of Needs: A History of Bureau of Reclamation Fish Passage Projects on the Truckee River, Nevada,” in Reclamation, Managing Water in the West: The Bureau of Reclamation: History Essays from the Centennial Symposium, Volume 1 (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2008), p. 209-220.

Dudley, Shelly C., “The First Five: A Brief Overview of the First Reclamation Projects Authorized by the Secretary of the Interior on March 14, 1903 in Reclamation, Managing Water in the West: The Bureau of Reclamation: History Essays from the Centennial Symposium, Volume 1 (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2008), p. 289-313.

Linenberger, Toni Rae, Dams, Dynamos, and Development: The Bureau of Reclamation’s Power and Electrification of the West (Washington, D.C., 2002).

_______. “The Parker-Davis Project History” (Denver: Bureau of Reclamation History Program, 1997).
MacDonnell, Lawrence J, From Reclamation to Sustainability: Water, Agriculture, and the Environment in the American West (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 1999).

_______. Harvests of Plenty: A History of the Yakima Irrigation Project, Washington (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, 2002).

_____. The Bureau of Reclamation’s Architectural Legacy: 1902-1955 (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, 2007).

Pisani, Donald J., “Federal Reclamation in the Twentieth Century: A Centennial Retrospective” in Reclamation, Managing Water in the West: The Bureau of Reclamation: History Essays from the Centennial Symposium, Volume 2 (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2008), p. 611-635.

Rowley, William D. The Bureau of Reclamation: Origins and Growth to 1945, Volume 1 (Denver: Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2006).

______. “Francis G. Newlands, Water for the West, and Progressivism,” in Ballard C. Campbell, ed., The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 2000), 101-117.

_______. Reclaiming the Arid West: The Career of Francis G. Newlands (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996).

Scott, Gregg A., Larry K. Nuss, and John LaBoon, “Concrete Dam Evolution: The Bureau of Reclamation’s Contributions to 2002,” in Reclamation, Managing Water in the West: The Bureau of Reclamation: History Essays from the Centennial Symposium, Volume 1 (Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2008), p. 1-65.

“Shasta Dam to be World’s Second Largest Concrete Dam,” The Reclamation Era (Decembetr 1937), 281. Shastalake.com.

Sholders, Mike, “Water Supply Development in San Diego and a Review of Related Outstanding Projects,” The Journal of San Diego History, Vol. 48, No. 1, Winter 2002. www.sandiegohistory.org. Accessed 28 September 2010.